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The Ireland Incident

Sam, Madison, me and Sara!

Another weekend, another trip. This time, it was a girls weekend to Dublin, Ireland! Ireland is a place that I’ve wanted to go for a long time, so I was super excited. Especially because I got to go with all my ladies.

The night before we went, we got maybe 5 hours of sleep because of school and how early our flight left. When we arrived, it was pouring buckets–welcome to Ireland! Because of that, we kind of laid low, checking out Trinity College and some other local sites. We checked into our hostel and our room that had 42 beds in it. That was an experience I can say I probably don’t want to have again. A mini pub crawl began that night, but I got really sick so I didn’t stay for most of it. (Get ready, this is going to come back later.)

The next day, however, was absolutely spectacular. We went out to Glendalough National Park (glen-da-lock, ladies and gents) and had the most perfect day for it. We explored some monastic ruins, ran into some deer, hiked around and played in a waterfall. It was just gorgeous and perfect and wonderful.

That night, however, was not so much. At 2AM I awoke with serious pain in my right ear. I tried to go back to sleep, not wanting to bother anyone at 2 freaking AM, but it didn’t last long. 4AM rolled around and I was crying in the fetal position. Poor Sam. I had to wake her up and beg for Advil, which she didn’t have, and then curl into a ball and ask if maybe we could go to the ER.

I don’t know if you know this (I hope you don’t) but 4:30AM on a Sunday morning is a very strange time to go to the ER. Most of all the drunken messes have been and gone, and the only people left are a random conglomeration of people with varying degrees of problems. Also, I think a few homeless people trying to spend the night out of the cold and being shooed by the security team who is very done with their jobs at this point. However, I got myself some strong painkillers and antibiotics and went back to sleep fairly quickly. (I had to take midterms on these drugs. They are very strong.)

The next day, we slept a lot. Sara left that morning for her internship, so it was down to Madison, Sam and their friend Kat. We spent the rest of that day roaming Dublin Castle and looking at the outsides of St. Patrick’s and Christ Church, then hid from the threatening rain in a Peacock Green cafe. Later on we explored an Irish Oktoberfest, which for this person of very German descent was absolutely hilarious.

Madison left Monday morning, leaving Sam and I with a full day to wander. We’d basically

Giant’s Causeway at the National Leprechaun Museum!

exhausted the city by then, though. We went to the Dublin Writer’s Museum, the National Gallery and the National Leprechaun Museum in our museum crawl. We wanted to see some others, but they were closed (ON MONDAY WHY?). We actually got to the airport really early for our then hourish delayed flight until we finally rolled into our beds at 2:30AM.

Honestly, Dublin was really underwhelming. Compared to London, it’s a very small city with not a lot of (free) things to do. I would have gladly paid for some of the experiences (and did) but really I just wanted to be anywhere but the city. You can really do all the highlights in a day or two. I certainly want to go back to Ireland, but I never want to see a city. I want to hit all the sites outside, like the Hill of Tara and Trim or the Giant’s Causeway. Even the tourist offices in Dublin know that most of the good times happen outside the city, so there are plenty of day trips from there to all these places. If you want to do Ireland, take full advantage of that. Just plan them ahead and don’t expect the city to propel your entire visit.

I’m off to Italy tomorrow for ten days, with a still plugged ear and a lack of antibiotics so this should be yet another adventure. Until I return!